My name is Sassy and I'm a .......

My name is Sassy and I don't know what to classify myself.  I'm not a hoarder, but I sure like holding onto things sometimes.  I LOVE a good sale.  It does my body good knowing that I got an incredible price on something.  I am filled with inner happiness when I come home with something awesome for a steal.  It is so fun. 

A while back I posted about how I need to be decluttering.  I have so much "stuff" and when I find something i.e., clothing for my kids, for a great deal, I surely get them.  As a result, I will have stuff all over the house.  Up until last night, my dryer has been broken.  Truth be told, it broke back in April I believe.  I have since had to hang up my laundry to dry.  Yes, there are great things about line drying. Reduced utility bills, longer life span on your clothing, etc.  But when you are a single mom, work full time and are truthfully limited on time, the delay of drying clothes has an effect on me.  I don't want to do laundry. 

I am so exctremely grateful that my dryer was fixed last night.  With the cooler weather coming, I didn't think line drying outside/in the garage would be the best alternative. 

But last night I just came to the realization that I need to stop shopping.  Unless I am looking for a specific item, I need to just cut it out.  I was so thrilled about realizing we had too much stuff/enough a few months ago.  But I have been shopping regardless.  And it isn't on big items.  It is the small things. 

With my unemployment happening at the beginning of this year, and being out of work for 6 months, I have worked out the figures and know that I will have made $26,000.00 at the end of the year.  Frankly, money is extremely tight.  I am overall an extremely frugal person, but I need to be watching our money even more.  It is scary how the little things add up.  Instead of shopping, I need to work on getting rid of more things!  I need to just get my butt in gear. 

My son will be having a birthday next month, so I need to work out a birthday budget, on already limited funds.  Some people may say just do without the party, but in our family we have a birthday party every year.  I would find it unfair to do without a party for him.  I like making my kids feel special and having a fun event just for them and our friends/family.  It is fun.  What fun birthday ideas can you guys come up with?  Something extremely frugal?  Something that will keep a 3 year old's attention?  I am glad I already found his birthday gift from me.  It takes a lot of stress off me. 

In addition to the birthday party, Christmas is around the corner.  Although I have bought some gifts throughout the year for my kids, I still have other family members to shop for and such.  The thought of the holidays is starting to stress me out.  On my side of the family, I believe we are not exchanging this year.  But that hasn't been set in stone either.  It is still up in the air.  My ex's family always includes us in their Christmas celebrations.  This year I think I might opt out for the gift exchange.  Last year there was a $50 limit.  To someone else that might sound like nothing, but on me who is already strapped for cash, that is pretty big.  And although the word "limit" is set, that typically means they expect you to spend about that on the gift.  If I drew my kids' grandma or grandpa, I could whip together a scrapbook, which I already purchased ahead of time on an extremely great deal.  I already have the supplies for scrapbooking.  I would just have to purchase pictures.  But knowing my luck, I wouldn't draw one of them.  And i would somehow have to come up with $50.00 for whoever's gift. 

I know that the holidays are supposed to be for joyous occasions, but for some reason I just am not feeling joyous about them.  No, I am not a scrooge.  I just am a little stressed and worried over it.  I usually shop Black Friday sales and get great deals on things, but this year I don't think I will be able to.  1) I believe I have to work!  :(  I have NEVER had to work on Black Friday so this will be an adjustment.  I was reading the employee handbook and the day after Thanksgiving is NOT listed as a holiday.  2)  If I chose to take the day off without pay, it still wouldn't solve the issue of my limited funds.  hahahaha  Obviously, it would contribute to me having even less funds! 

On top of all of this, my cousin texted me yesterday asking if her and her family could stay at her house during Christmas break.  Although I love her to death, I am still left with a few fears on this.  First, I have work, so I won't be able to spend a lot of time with them.  Second, while I am at work her and her family will be at my house and I wouldn't want something bad happening at the house with her kids.  Third, if they were at our house on Christmas morning and their kids got "awesome" presents from Santa, and my kids don't think they got as great of gifts, what do I do? Next, feeding 6 extra mouths on my income isn't going to be easy.  Needless to say, I am throwing that idea around in my head on top of everything else.

So now I am left debating what to do for the next couple months.  I didn't mean for this to come off as just a rant about everything.  Sorry guys.  I am just left really debating on what to do.